


An Unbreakable Friendship

by ProPinkist



Category: Tales of Graces
Genre: Angst, Friendship, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Sophie and Richard are precious and they must be protected ugh, Tales of Santa 2016, and Richard hurts me always OTL, implied late game reveal spoilers, let him be happy, sort of, that summary sounds like it's romance but it's not LOL
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-25
Updated: 2016-12-25
Packaged: 2018-09-12 03:45:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,287
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9053878
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ProPinkist/pseuds/ProPinkist
Summary: The night before the infiltration of Wallbridge, Sophie is worried about her feelings towards Richard, and isn't sure whether to believe her instincts or her heart. She talks to him, hoping to find some solace.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the Tales of Secret Santa on tumblr! I love Richard and Sophie's relationship so much; it's probably my favorite in the game, along with Richard and Asbel's (all three of them together, really). It's hard to watch Richard slowly fall prey to Lambda's influence in the beginning of the main arc while Sophie suspects something is wrong before it's even apparent on the outside, and I wanted to do something with them in this section of the game since they keep a hostile distance from each other for obvious reasons and it's sad. ;w; Hopefully I captured each of their speech patterns well; I tried to keep Sophie's words and thoughts simple, and Richard's more eloquent, obviously.

Inside her room, Sophie couldn’t sleep.

Not that she really knew that she needed to; her strength never seemed to fade no matter how much she fought, after all. But she knew this was unnatural, and that sleeping _was_ natural, so she wanted to do what everybody else did. Asbel didn’t need to know everything about her when she didn’t even understand the reasons behind them herself; it would only confuse and worry him more. And he didn’t need that; not right now, with everything that was going on.

Tomorrow they would help Richard take back the kingdom, and for once, questions about her past weren’t the only thing on her mind.

Sophie hadn’t known Richard, or _anything_ really, for very long now… but something was wrong when it came to him. That, she could sense.

She didn’t want to think that way. Even not remembering their apparent past friendship, Sophie could see how close Asbel and Richard were, and how highly Asbel regarded his friend. And she, too, for reasons she couldn’t explain, felt like Richard was, at his core, a good person. …Though, with the prince, Sophie felt as if she only thought this because of the distant, niggling sensation in the back of her mind that it was true, that she had _known_ this in the past… it was different from the others; with the others, Asbel and Cheria and Hubert, just being _around_ them now felt warm and familiar and right.

She didn’t feel that way being around Richard, however.

Being in Richard’s presence was… painful. Stifling. It was the only exception to Sophie’s never-ending energy, and she couldn’t understand why staying in too close a proximity to the man left her feeling so breathless and hurting. It bothered her, because Richard was not a person who she would think would cause her to be so uncomfortable. He seemed sad about what had happened to him, and determined to make things right, but that didn’t make him a bad person. After all, _Asbel_ was a good person, and he would never be friends with someone who was bad, right?

Indeed, he wouldn’t, and Richard wasn’t. He clearly still remembered the past Sophie, the one she didn’t, and he was kind to her and acted as if he wanted to be friends with her just as much as he did Asbel. And Sophie wanted to be his friend too, more than anything. But she couldn’t just ignore this inexplicable darkness she sensed from him, and to make matters worse, her avoidance of Richard was giving him the impression that she didn’t like him, she thought. And that was the last thing Sophie wanted… so why did she feel this way? And why did Richard seem to be suffering just as much as she was the few times they came in contact with one another, the sting and black smoke that arose proving that her pain wasn’t just her imagination?

Richard wasn’t bad, and he would never hurt either of them, she had to keep telling herself. After all, he was hurting, himself. But…

It was all a mess. Sophie had been thinking about it ever since Richard had first joined up with them, staying towards the back of the group sadly while Asbel and the prince forged ahead, their friendly chatter with each other only making her feel more crazy and concerned.

Part of Sophie wished that she could ask Pascal about it, since the strange woman seemed to know a lot. But she knew talking to her on her own would most likely only prompt her to want to touch her again, and Sophie dreaded that even more than the pain she felt being near Richard.

Now, with night having fallen and everyone asleep, she had nothing left to distract her, and these thoughts occupied her mind completely. What was the problem? How could it be fixed? …Could it even _be_ fixed? Sophie didn’t know, just like she didn’t know anything about herself.

It was frustrating.

Eventually deciding that sleep was something that wouldn’t come, either because she was physically incapable or because her mind was racing too much, Sophie arose from her bed in the Gralesyde manor guest room, exiting and closing the door quietly behind her. She doubted she could be heard from anywhere in the building, but she was glad when no one appeared to catch her leaving, Sophie opting for one of the side doors instead of the front one.

There was a nice little beach down here, she had found out earlier. Maybe seeing the water would relax her somewhat.

The idea pleased Sophie, and she rounded the corner of the cliff path with a smile on her face, until she spotted a dark figure already at her destination, causing her happy countenance to immediately drop.

It was Richard.

He couldn’t sleep, either? Or maybe he had never even gone to bed since his earlier conversation with Asbel in front of the manor, Sophie thought, that having been the last time she had seen him. She felt her heart climb into her throat at the sight of the prince, herself being nowhere near close enough yet to feel that unpleasant feeling, but already anticipating it fearfully.

Sophie’s first instinct was to leave before he could spot her, the bright moon still casting enough blue light to be able to see decently enough, but something stopped her. She sensed that this would be her last and only possible opportunity alone with Richard before the likely chaos tomorrow, and some unexplainable feeling made Sophie want to talk to him now while she had this chance.

Before it was… too late?

Taking a deep breath and reminding herself that Richard wasn’t someone to be scared of, Sophie made her ways toward the figure on the beach. It wasn’t long before she started to feel the creeping sensation of weakness in her body, but she bared it, sitting close enough that her voice would reach him and that it wouldn’t look an unnatural distance, but far away enough that she could tolerate the heaviness she felt.

“…Sophie? What are you doing here?” Richard questioned in surprise, having had turned his head towards her upon hearing her approaching footsteps.

“…I couldn’t sleep.”

“Is that so…” the prince murmured in response, turning back towards the lake to mirror her. “…Neither could I, admittedly… All things considered, I should be exhausted enough to sleep peacefully, so I can regain as much strength as I can for tomorrow, but unfortunately my mind is too preoccupied with thoughts to let that happen.”

Richard’s wording worried her, and she frowned, thinking about how he had been acting up until this point.

“Are you… still hurting, Richard?”

In response, he let out a heavy and tired-sounding sigh, drawing his knees up even further into his chest than they had been, so he was sitting in a way that was rather un-prince like.

“…I am,” he whispered painfully. “My entire body aches, and breathing hurts all the more… a-and somehow, I even feel as if I am more irrationally agitated than I have ever been…”

Sophie bit her lip, reaching her hand out slowly without thinking, and only coming to her senses and stopping when Richard let out a small moan of discomfort. Drawing back hastily, she frowned deeper, her voice solemn as she spoke.

“You mean you’re angry… but… you have a reason to be upset, don’t you, Richard?” Sophie didn’t know what a father was, but she knew Asbel was hurt by losing his, and so she knew Richard had to be sad too, since he was in the same situation... along with the other circumstances surrounding the prince’s current plight.

Richard laughed in response, it sounding a little bitter, and he repositioned himself, straightening his legs out and crossing one over the other before speaking. “I do… very much so.” His voice was soft and mournful, a kind which Sophie had never heard from him before, and it made her chest squeeze even more painfully than it already did. “…I have always known, my entire life, that this was a possible fate for us in the future… for me and… my father… but even still, now that it has actually come to pass, and in the worst way possible, I find myself… struggling to accept it.”

Sophie felt like Richard was telling her something very private, something he hadn’t even told Asbel, and now more than ever, Sophie desperately wished this horrible, heavy feeling she had around the other would go away, so that she could hold part of him to try to make him feel better, like she had done for Asbel in the rain that time recently.

“…That being said… being angry isn’t my first reaction,” Richard murmured, continuing. “Mostly I’m just… tired. After so many poisons, which always left me weakened and ill, and all other assassination attempts, on my father as well, I… I’m simply tired of it all. …I don’t think I could muster up the energy to become enraged at this situation even if I wanted to, or even at my uncle… despite the fact that I have every right to be so.”

He took a shuddering breath, wincing as he put one hand over his chest, and Sophie was naturally reminded of her own chest pain, the pain which she was certain now Richard had to be feeling just as much. …But _why?_

“I just don’t understand… Why did it have to be us?” Richard’s head was bowed, so Sophie couldn’t see his eyes, but she saw how his raised hand clenched into a tight fist. “Of course, everyone who is royalty… faces dangers like these… But to us, it has been _relentless._ Not just my uncle, even; so many others… _so many_. Why… Why do people hate my father and I so much? What were we doing wrong that was beyond forgiveness to the point where only our deaths would suffice? Why did we have to suffer so much: I, who am only a prince with little power to speak of for most of my life, and my father, of whom I have never known a better ruler…? A better _person?_ …T-They wanted us dead so much, all of them, for no reason! …And not only did my father’s own brother, my own uncle, _murder_ him in cold blood so cruelly, after how ill he already was, but our _own soldiers_ helped him do it!! They… T-They _betrayed us!!_ Us, whom they had saved countless times before, only to turn around and s-stab us in the back after we had trusted them for so many years! _I don’t understand it; I don’t understand it at **all!!!** ”_

“Richard!”

He was yelling, his voice having risen higher and higher as his grief-stricken lamenting turned into loathing, growling sneers, a horrible black smoke emanating from around him, and before Sophie could stop herself, she had grabbed him, frightened at how quickly his demeaner had changed from just a minute before. Immediately, her entire body felt like it was on fire, her hands and arms feeling like a thousand needles were being stabbed into them. Tears brimmed her eyes at the intense pain, but before she could say anything else, Richard had screamed, shoving his hands against her and flinging himself away from her desperately to the other side of the beach.

“S-Stop… d-don’t touch me!! It… hurts! It _hurts it hurts it hurts!”_

Sophie pulled herself up weakly from where he had pushed her, turning around and watching with heartbroken dismay as Richard curled into a ball on the ground, still writing a little in pain and gasping for breath as he let out small sobs.

“R-Richard, I… I didn’t mean to hurt you…!” she shouted so that he could hear her, her voice sounding sadder than she was certain she had ever heard herself speak. “I’m sorry… I d-don’t know… what…”

Slowly, agonizingly, the prince turned onto his other side so that he was facing her, and though Sophie couldn’t make out his expression from this far away, she saw him weakly extend one of his arms out, beckoning her to come closer. She hesitated, her own self still feeling slightly achy, but eventually slowly made her way towards Richard until she was close enough as she dared, settling down beside him once again, keeping her face resolutely turned away from him so he wouldn’t feel pried upon. For some reason, the heavy and painful feeling wasn’t as strong as it had been earlier even before his outburst.

“…I’m sorry,” Richard finally managed, his voice soft and guilt-filled. “Sophie, please believe me… you are my friend. But… there’s something wrong with m-me, and I don’t… know what… I’m so sorry you have to see me behave so irrationally and disrespectfully.”

Sophie looked down at her feet, watching the lake water come close to reaching them but not quite advancing far enough to do so. “…I don’t remember being your friend before, Richard. But… I want to be now.”

“Ah… that’s right,” Richard murmured, his voice sad. “I know it may be hard for you to believe now, with… me… but you and Asbel were friends in the past… and then you both invited me to be your friend.”

She heard shuffling, and she turned to see Richard moving so that he was lying on his back, looking up at the great and beautiful starry sky. If she looked closely, she thought she saw his eyes glistening unnaturally in a way she had never seen before (wait, hadn’t Asbel done it too a little while ago, in the rain?).

“I was… so happy. So very happy.” Richard’s voice had cracked a little, and he placed his hand over his eyes, letting out a shaky sigh. “…I didn’t know either of you for very long, and Cheria and Hubert for even less… but those few days I had with you is still one of the best moments of my entire life, and a time I have never forgotten… despite how it ended…”

“…Ended?”

“Yes,” Richard said quietly in response, turning his head to gaze at her and his blond hair blowing slightly in the night breeze. “There was… yet another attack on me that night, which left me asleep for almost a week… and I don’t know much, but I heard later that you had… passed away.”

“You mean… died…” Sophie’s chest tightened uncomfortably at the thought, a different feeling from what she felt being around Richard. “…Asbel said the same thing… but now I’m back… I wish I could remember. I wish I knew more about me. So that I could understand why being around everyone makes me feel so… warm inside… and why when I’m around you, I…”

She stopped mid-sentence, not sure how to finish what she was saying, and next to her, Richard grimaced slightly.

“…Being around me hurts you… doesn’t it, Sophie.”

Sophie frowned, nodding slowly and hesitantly in assent. “…Yes… I wish it didn’t… I don’t know why, Richard.”

“Neither do I, Sophie,” Richard finally whispered, after a few moments of silence. “…To be honest, I have felt… slightly unnatural ever since that… day, seven years ago. …The instances where I was poisoned after it, I healed rather frighteningly quickly… And yet, the latest incident has left me considerably weak, even now… and when we touch each other… something happens.”

“…It doesn’t make any sense… Why me?” Sophie asked sadly, holding the prince’s gaze steadily. “…Perhaps it’s my fault.”

“No,” Richard said immediately and firmly, shaking his head. “I refuse to blame you. …This is my problem, that I am certain of.”

“…But… No one else hurts and is hurt by you when they’re around you but me, Richard.”

“Even so, it is not something you can control, so you are not to blame, Sophie.” He sighed for what felt like the hundredth time that night, shivering slightly as he wrapped his arms around his stomach. “…Hopefully I can muster the strength to make it through tomorrow’s battle… and once I have reclaimed the throne, I will see a doctor… to find out what it is that ails me so strangely.”

Something told Sophie that what was wrong with Richard wasn’t something a normal doctor would be able to fix, but she didn’t say this, simply nodding.

“Richard… I still want to be your friend, even though I can’t remember being anyone’s friend before. …But I want to stay with Asbel and you… even with this… Is that okay?”

She turned back towards Richard, worriedly, and she saw that his expression was surprised. After a few moments though, it melted into a bittersweet smile, and he reached his hand out gingerly from where he lay, seeming as if he wanted her to take it.

“…You don’t know how happy that makes me to hear, Sophie… truly… thank you. I wish the same thing as you, to stay your friend as well as Asbel’s.”

Sophie smiled weakly, her mind telling her to stop but her heart not letting her as she reached her own arm out towards Richard’s welcoming one.

Their hands clasped… and nothing happened.

Both stunned into silence for a few moments, Sophie was the first to speak again, squeezing her friend’s gloved hand almost desperately, drinking in his touch at the thought that this opportunity would never come again.

“I’ll stay with you, no matter what, Richard… You make Asbel happy after he lost everything… so I’m happy as well. …I’m sorry about what happened to you… but I’ll be there to help you tomorrow, just like the others will be too.

“Because… we’re friends.”

Richard smiled back serenely, his single red eye bright in the darkness, and he eventually pulled away to Sophie’s slight dismay, letting his hand rest tiredly on his chest again.

“…Thank you, Sophie. Indeed, we are… We made a promise back then, that the three of us would always be friends, and I don’t intend for that to change anytime soon… Thank you for being by Asbel’s side, as well.”

Sophie thought back to the tree Asbel had shown her, with their names on it; a friendship pact she did not remember making, but could somehow believe that she had in the past, despite not knowing if her name was truly Sophie or not. For the first time that night, she genuinely smiled, ignoring the looming, lingering ache she still felt inside her chest.

“Always… be friends… Yes… I would like that very much, Richard.”

The prince only smiled in response, turning his gaze back up towards the sky and looking fairly content, to Sophie’s relief. After enough time had passed, it surely being late into the night by then, Richard was finally fast asleep on the beach, his chest rising and falling rhythmically with calm, even breaths. Lamenting the fact that she could not take him back to his room at the risk of hurting him, Sophie returned to her own room, taking the blanket off of her bed and bringing it back down outside and laying it over her sleeping friend. His face looked slightly agitated in his dreams, but it was otherwise a peaceful rest, and she was glad.

She then returned to his side, not too close but not too far, vowing to stay awake until morning and watch over Richard and protect him until he woke.

_There’s nothing to worry about… no matter what happens to Richard, or to me, he’ll always want to be my friend, and so I will too._

_The three of us will always be friends. Sophie, Asbel, and Richard. Forever._


End file.
